


courage of the stars

by cosmic strings (electrick)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, post 2.08
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 09:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2646263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electrick/pseuds/cosmic%20strings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>2.08 au | aurora and hook on a journey at sea, they decide to chart their boundaries (or lack of).</p>
            </blockquote>





	courage of the stars

#3 sea

 

“What’s it to you?” she asks from the deck of his ship. She’s facing the sea and with her eyes closed, all she can smell is the salt of the sea.

 

“What do you mean, what’s it to me? Your safety for one!” Hook exclaims as he pulls her back from the edge. _Once a princess gets a taste of freedom, there’s no stopping her_ he thinks to himself. The sea’s made her wild.

 

“And why would a pirate care for my safety?” she turns around and asks with a smirk. Her cheeks are a heightened shade of pink and what is that he smells? Rum?

 

“Did you drink my rum, princess?” he asks without letting go of her arm. He’s not surprised and her behavior would make much more sense. She hiccups and her smile is enough response but she doesn’t answer the question.

 

All the time she’s been on his ship, he hasn’t seen a smile this wide. His heart tugs for him to pull her in his arms and promise to keep her safe but that goes against his code. He doesn’t have time for girls (she’a girl, not a woman), not while the crocodile is still alive. 

 

“Alright, that’s enough for you. You’re embarrassing yourself,” he pulls her from the ship to his deck. He brings her some water and the little bread he has. He doesn’t do this because he care, oh no, he does this because all he wants is for her to sleep so he can have peace and quiet among his crew without the distraction of this girl.

 

When he comes back with the bread, she’s on his bed and her stocking are thrown off on the ground. She’s resting against the wall with her eyes closed but he knows she’s not asleep. She hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since her passage on his ship. He knows that because she’s awake when he goes to sleep and she’s still awake when he wakes up. He doesn’t bother asking her about it because he doesn’t want her getting the wrong idea (that he might care or something of the sort). 

 

“I suppose you’re going to take care of me now?” Aurora asks behind her closed eyes. In that moment, Hook is so grateful that her eyes are closed because he could feel his blood rush to his face. Quickly, he hides the bread inside his jacket and shrugs off his concern for the girl. He places the water on his desk with his maps and sits down at the chair.

 

“I couldn’t tell how you mistaken you are. Pirate, remember?” he lazily looks up at her from his desk. He's hidden the bread at his desk, just in case. Pirates always cover their tracks.  Her eyes flutter open and her posture changes. She had expected him to make sure she was okay (not to say that she did this for attention or anything). 

 

“Ah yes, Captain Hook. Pirate lord,” she sighs as her thumb strokes her chin. The alcohol she’s had affects her in the most wrong ways. She’s attracted to him and she thinks that maybe (just maybe) she wanted attention from the pirate. She’s been used to looks and leers from men but she’s never acted upon them. She didn’t have much of a chance to do so until Phillip rescued her and even after that, he was taken away from her. Out of the corner of her eye, she looks at Hook sitting at his desk, looking at papers strewn across his desk. His stump hand is underneath the desk while he uses his free hand to flip through the parchments. His hair always seems to be in an array, calling for a comb. She spies the tufts of hair on his chest and wonder if he dresses the way he does intentionally or if he just doesn’t care. She’s ashamed at the way she wants to untie the strings at his shirt so she can hold his bare chest.

 

She takes a deep breath and licks her lips. Aurora walks over to his desk and leans against the side. 

 

“Where exactly are we going, Captain?” she drawls out, stealing looks at the maps below. She’s excited at the prospect of going somewhere new, somewhere beyond her kingdom. 

 

“Uncharted territory, milady,” he responds without looking at her. He spies her dress move around his desk until she’s standing next to him, looking out at the window. He suddenly has the urge to stand next to her and pull her close in his arms. 

 

“You say uncharted, but all I see is the sea,” she says, still gazing out at sea. 

 

“I’ve seen the sea from my castle. I’ve seen the sea from the Enchanted Forest. Now I’ve seen this. How is this uncharted?” she asks as she turns around. She jumps a little at the sudden proximity of his body as he’s standing next to her. She takes a deep breath (not to breathe him in or anything like that) but she stumbles on her step and reaches out to the window. She overestimates its distance but Hook helps her before her fall. 

 

“These waters are most definitely uncharted. Look at how angry the sea is. You can see the waves crashing against each other in the distance. But if you look the other way, you’ll see calm waters for miles. If you look below, you will find wild animals that you will never have thought possible beyond your realm. All you have to do is really look,” he says as he lets go of her but she doesn’t move.

 

In fact, she steps closer and tries to see what he sees. In the distance, she sees the is crumbling of the waves and the tides swelling. She turns the other way and sees the stillness of the water - the deep blue color without any ripples. It’s not real, how these two sides are possible. Water is flowing object that once touches has a lasting effect. _How is this possible?_ she wonders.

 

“Why are we in this uncharted territory?” she asks him as she turns to him. He’s much too close but she’s afraid it’s her mistake. She’s moved closer to him as he was talking about the sea and now it’s almost impossible to not breathe him in.

 

“Why are we, indeed,” he says but he doesn’t want an answer. He knows what he wants and at that moment, he’s willing to bet his right hand that she wants the same thing. But he’s not going to make the first move. The little princess brought this upon herself and they both knew it. She stole the rum for a reason and although he didn’t know the reason earlier, he knows it know. _She’s a clever one,_ he thinks to himself. He looks at her and all he sees are her blue eyes. For a moment, he wonders if she is a siren - she’s bewitched him so that he can’t focus on anything except her and all he wants to do is ravish her. 

 

She closes in on him and the rum (even though it’s wore off by now) is all the courage she needs to push her lips against his. Her hands are finally on his shirt and touching the hair she’s wondered about and my god, it’s as soft as it looks like. It’s rough, naked and unassuming. He finally pulls her in by her waist and she’s more than happy to oblige. Her fingers thread the way from his shirt to his neck and pull him in. It’s unbecoming of her to kiss anyone like this, let alone a pirate. She breathes against him and they’re both out of breath, gasping for one another. 

 

“So princess,” he smirks at he strokes her side with his good hand.

 

“So pirate,” she replies as she pulls her bottom lip through her teeth. _Uncharted territories indeed_ , she thinks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
